Southport family’s joy as ‘miracle baby’ Noah bounces back to health

SAY hello to “miracle baby” Noah Connolly – happy and healthy just five months on from his fight for life after contracting Strep B.

Proud parents Charlotte and James spoke of their delight at his recovery, after holding a ‘doctors and nurses’ fancy dress fundraiser on Saturday for the neo-natal unit that helped save him.

Little Noah's battle for survival began when he stopped breathing minutes after being born on June 12 at Ormskirk Hospital.

After being resuscitated for 40 minutes, he was transferred to Arrowe Park Hospital in Wirral where his brain temperature could be reduced.

Because Noah’s brain was starved of oxygen for so long, doctors induced hypothermia to reduce any further damage to brain cells.

The tot suffered neo-natal seizures, small bleeds on his brain and organs and needed two blood transfusions.

Blood tests revealed he had contracted Group B Streptococcus, an infection passed to Noah through the birth canal.

Thankfully, antibiotics cleared the infection, and days later he was discharged from hospital. Now Noah has bounced back to become a picture of health.

Charlotte, from Hart Street, said: “He’s absolutely fantastic. It was such an awful experience, we’re still in a bit of a daze.

“It’s made me a more panicky person since though, as you never expect something like this to happen to you.”

Noah was so ill, he was baptised as he lay in an incubator fighting for life, so Charlotte and James, 30, held a special church blessing for him with 150 friends and family last month.

Now, undergoing weekly physio appointments and regular check-ups to make sure he is developing okay, Noah has started sitting up ahead of schedule.

And his proud mum said: “The consultant said he’d never seen a baby recover like Noah has – he called him a miracle baby and we were in tears.

“He doesn’t stop babbling and cooing, he’s just gorgeous. We also keep in touch with our midwife Tracey Nelson – who spotted something wasn’t right so quickly after he was born – and let her know how he’s doing.”

Noah's parents were determined to do something to show their gratitude to Arrowe Park’s neo-natal staff for their care of Noah.

And they decided to raise money for the unit to buy another body-cooling mat, like the one that helped save Noah, to help other youngsters in need.

Charlotte, 25, said: “A friend of mine holds an annual fundraiser for various charities at Briars Hall and this year we have decided to do it for the neo-natal unit.

“The cooling mat is an amazing bit of technology and really helped Noah, so we thought it would be a great idea to raise funds for the unit to help pay for another one.

“It was a fantastic night – I’d like to thank the Burgess family, everyone at Briars Hall, and Huyton’s Butchers and Ribble Farm for providing the food.

“There was entertainment from band the Leopard Skin Slippers, DJ Stuart Magee and guitarist Po McKeown who all played for free and some fantastic raffle prizes, including a signed Steven Gerrard football, an Everton FC tour, B&B at the Britannia Hotel, vouchers for hair salon Cabello and a meal for two at the Blue Mallard. Everyone had a brilliant time and it was a really nice event.”

More than 200 tickets were sold for the night which raised more than £1,700.

And Charlotte said : “We were really proud to be doing something for the unit – but we will never be able to truly repay them for saving our son’s life.”

Clare MacGlashan, deputy unit manager at Arrowe Park’s neo-natal unit, said: “We’re all delighted Noah is doing so well, and extremely grateful to the family for their fundraising.”

For pictures from the doctors and nurses fundraiser, see next week’s Midweek Visiter.